Survey Reveals Americans’ Travel Concerns in the Age of COVID-19

Cases of COVID-19 continue to skyrocket, but the situation hasn’t deterred all Americans from dreaming about travel.

A new survey from Upgraded Points asked Americans when they would feel comfortable traveling again and the results were a mixed bag.

On the positive side, people are wanting to travel again but travelers differ on when that will be.

Upgraded Points found that most people are waiting until next year. Overall, 20 percent of respondents said that they would feel comfortable traveling for non-essential, non-business travel again in 2021.

However, 13 percent said they would be ready to travel again this May and another 13 percent said June of this year. The rest of the responses were scattered throughout the rest of the year.

Eleven percent said that they would be ready to travel again in July. Eight percent said August and 5 percent said September. Four percent said they would travel again in October and November and December were 2 and 3 percent respectively.

Younger people were ready to travel a lot sooner than older generations. In fact, 20 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 were ready to travel this month—which is highly discouraged but shows that this age group will likely bounce back much faster than older travelers.

Travelers between ages 26 and 34 were not as willing to pack up their bags and go but close. Fourteen percent were willing to travel in April but most were looking to 2021, 18 percent. June was the second-highest month to get back to travel for this age group with 16 percent saying this would be when they would embark on a vacation again.

Upgraded Points also asked respondents what their biggest concerns were about traveling again and 41 percent said contracting COVID-19 was their main fear. Thirty-two percent said that spreading the virus to their friends and family was a concern and a further 17 percent said that they were afraid of spreading COVID-19 to other travelers. Very few, just 0.2 percent said they were afraid of being stuck somewhere as a result of a quarantine.

Just 10 percent of respondents said that they had no concerns about traveling.

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